GIS-Based Quantitative Landslide Risk Assessment Approach for Property and Life at Bartin Hepler

In Turkey, landslides are the second most common natural disasters that cause damages in Turkey that follow the earthquakes. Thus, landslide risk assessment is of crucial importance in this area. Therefore in this study a quantitative approach for mapping landslide risk is developed for property and life at local scale. The approach is first based on the identification of existing elements at risk in the area by the developed algorithm. Then the vulnerability approach focuses on determination of quantitative vulnerability values for each element at risk by considering temporal and spatial impacts by adopting a “damage probability matrix“ approach. The loss estimation was combined with the hazard values which are based on former work done in Bartın Kumluca area where a detailed study of landslide occurrence and hazard in the recent past (last 30 years) was carried out. The final result risk maps for property ($/pixel/year) and life (life/pixel/year) shows all losses per pixel annually for each element at risk in Hepler village.

Microzonation of seismic risk in a low-rise Latin American city based on the macroseismic evaluation of the vulnerability of residential buildings: Colima city, México

A macroseismic methodology of seismic risk microzonation in a low-rise city based on the vulnerability of residential buildings is proposed and applied to Colima city, Mexico. The seismic risk microzonation for Colima consists of two elements: the mapping of residential blocks according to their vulnerability level and the calculation of an expert-opinion based damage probability matrix (DPM) for a given level of earthquake intensity and a given type of residential block. A specified exposure time to the seismic risk for this zonation is equal to the interval between two destructive earthquakes. The damage probability matrices were calculated for three types of urban buildings and five types of residential blocks in Colima. It was shown that only 9% of 1409 residential blocks are able to resist to the Modify Mercalli (MM) intensity VII and VIII earthquakes without significant damage. The proposed DPM-2007 is in good accordance with the experimental damage curves based on the macroseismic evaluation of 3332 residential buildings in Colima that was carried out after the 21 January 2003 intensity MM VII earthquake. This methodology and the calculated PDM-2007 curves may be applied also to seismic risk microzonation for many low-rise cities in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

Regional seismic risk in British Columbia — classification of buildings and development of damage probability functions

Regional seismic risk estimations are needed in southwestern British Columbia, since it is one of the most seismically active and highly populated regions in Canada. Regional estimations typically involve a large number of buildings, which makes it necessary to establish a building classification system, where the average response to earthquake shaking is assumed to be similar within each building class. In this study, buildings in British Columbia were divided into 31 classes based on their material, lateral load bearing system, height, use, and age. A damage probability matrix (DPM) was then developed for each building class which describes the probability of being in a certain damage level (i.e., light, moderate, heavy, etc.) given the ground shaking intensity. Next, a probability distribution function was fit to the discrete probability values at each intensity level. The products of this study, the building classification system, the DPMs, and the probability distribution functions will allow regional damage and loss estimations in the area.Key words: seismic risk, vulnerability, building classification, structural system, building response, damage, probability.

A Model for Buildings' Vulnerability Assessment Using the Parameterless Scale of Seismic Intensity (PSI)

After the earthquake of 1980 in Irpinia the Italian Government promoted a damage survey, with the cooperation of researchers of the “Progetto Finalizzato Geodinamica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche PFG-CNR.” The data of the damage survey have been used in several studies during previous years, and in the present work they have been elaborated on with the aim of assessing a value of the seismic excitation in each administrative unit according to the Parameterless Scale of Seismic Intensity (PSI) (Spence et al., 1991). The PSI intensities are in good correlation with the values of the MSK scale: for each degree of the latter, the PSI intensity, a continuous variable, shows a spectrum of values. At the same time, a model for damage prediction has been identified, where the frequency of a damage degree in a territorial unit is a function of PSI. The proposed damage prediction model has been compared with the Damage Probability Matrix method and the range of variation of the losses evaluated in scenario analyses at the National Seismic Survey has been estimated.